Portal:Literature
Introduction
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment. It can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.
Literary criticism is one of the oldest academic disciplines, and is concerned with the literary merit or intellectual significance of specific texts. The study of books and other texts as artifacts or traditions is instead encompassed by textual criticism or the history of the book. "Literature", as an art form, is sometimes used synonymously with literary fiction, fiction written with the goal of artistic merit, but can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoirs, letters, and essays. Within this broader definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles, or other written information on a particular subject. (Full article...)
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The General in His Labyrinth is a novel by the Colombian writer and Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez. It is a fictionalized account of the last days of Simón Bolívar, liberator and leader of Gran Colombia. First published in 1989, the book traces Bolívar's final journey from Bogotá to the Caribbean coastline of Colombia in his attempt to leave South America for exile in Europe. In this dictator novel about a continental hero, "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life". Breaking with the traditional heroic portrayal of Bolívar El Libertador, García Márquez depicts a pathetic protagonist, a prematurely aged man who is physically ill and mentally exhausted. The story explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories.
García Márquez's insertion of interpretive and fictionalized elements—some dealing with Bolívar's most intimate moments—caused outrage in parts of Latin America when the book was released. Many prominent Latin American figures believed that the novel damaged the reputation of one of the region's most important historic figures and portrayed a negative image to the outside world. Others saw The General in His Labyrinth as a tonic for Latin American culture and a challenge to the region to deal with its problems.
Selected excerpt
“ | It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. | ” |
— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities |
More Did you know
- ... that although the protagonist of F.D.J. Pangemanann's novel Tjerita Si Tjonat is evil without a single redeeming feature, he was portrayed as a popular hero in wartime Indonesia?
- ... that Hungarian writer Károly Pap lived in desperate poverty?
- ... that Jeanne Galzy's novel Burnt Offering, winner of the 1930 Prix Brentano, explores a love between a teacher and a 12-year-old female student?
- ... that Ananda Chandra Barua was a writer, poet, playwright, translator, journalist and actor from Assam, who received Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country in 1970?
- ... that Tio Ie Soei's novel Sie Po Giok has been called the only work of Chinese Malay literature fit for children to read?
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Rudaki is acknowledged as the founder of New Persian poetry in Iran and the father of Tajik literature in Tajikistan?
- ... that The Inland Whale, by Theodora Kroeber, sought to demonstrate the literary merit of Indigenous American oral traditions?
- ... that Hadriana in All My Dreams, published in 1988, was the first novel by a Haitian author to win a major French literary award?
- ... that the literary magazine Adabijoti Soveti was the sole remaining publication in the Jewish-Bukharian language by the time of the switch to the Cyrillic script in 1939–1940?
- ... that Imagining Mars: A Literary History "presents a compelling case that 'Mars matters'"?
- ... that literary agent Jacques Chambrun sold unauthorized, scandalous excerpts of a Marilyn Monroe memoir to a British tabloid?
Today in literature
- 1773 - John Hawkesworth, English writer died
- 1839 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet born
- 1880 - Alexander Blok, Russian poet born
- 1889 - George S. Kaufman, American playwright born
- 1892 - Guo Moruo, Chinese writer born
- 1906 - Henri Charrière, author of Papillon born
- 1922 - José Saramago, Portuguese writer born
- 1930 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author born
- 1946 - Terrence McKenna, American writer born
- 1952 - Robin McKinley, American writer born
- 1954 - Andrea Barrett, American writer born
- 1967 - Craig Arnold, American poet born
- 1973 - Alan Watts, English writer died
- 1976 - Danny Wallace, British author born
- 1995 - Jack Finney, American author died
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Regions: | Australian literature · Indian literature · Persian literature |
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